On our last trip out we noticed it was difficult to release the jib to let it out. The jib sheet is old but sound. The cleats hold well when sheeting in but it takes more than a quick flip to release them. Is this normal or is there something maintenance wise I can do to improve the release? As far as I can tell it is original hardware on a 30 year old cat.
Thanks Bob
Check the angle of the cleat, the lower the cleat is set the harder it is to uncleat. There are screws on the sides of the blocks you can loosen to adjust the angle.
Sail on....
swaompfox wrote: Check the angle of the cleat, the lower the cleat is set the harder it is to uncleat. There are screws on the sides of the blocks you can loosen to adjust the angle.
That sounds like it! the cleat sits almost on the deck. I will adjust that before the next run. Thanks Bob
The Hobie 18 jib cleats are notorious for being difficult to uncleat. If you have the original Seaway blocks with metal cleats, forget it. You will most likely have to put your hand right next to the cleat to get it undone. If you have Harken cleats, they operate much more easily and can usually be released from the far side of the boat with some practice. The trick is to have just the right amount of slack in the line and flick the line sideways to pop ot out of the cleat. Most of the time the problem is the crew ends up smacking the line into the tramp rather than filcking it sideways out of the cleat. Adjusting the cleats up also helps with releasing, but will make it impossible to cleat the jib from the back of the boat. Note that if you have the old Seaway blocks, you can buy an adapter to allow you to mount Harken 150 cam cleat onto the block. This is a good option if you're looking to upgrade on a budget.
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Steve M.
If you have wings seats....move the cam cleat to your wings. This is were I cleat my jib sheets and it works great when your out on the wire too. π
bill40421SE wrote: If you have wings seats....move the cam cleat to your wings. This is were I cleat my jib sheets and it works great when your out on the wire too. π
I do have wings; can you elaborate a bit on your mounting location or possibly attach a picture? I have also seen some mounted on the front cross bar. Any thoughts on this?
Dogboy wrote: The Hobie 18 jib cleats are notorious for being difficult to uncleat. mount Harken 150 cam cleat onto the block. This is a good option if you're looking to upgrade on a budget.
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I am on a budget but want it to be easy for my crew (wife) to operate, thanks I will look at those as well. I was also thinking some of it just could be technique having been out of sailing for so long.
bobflesh wrote:
I do have wings; can you elaborate a bit on your mounting location or possibly attach a picture? I have also seen some mounted on the front cross bar. Any thoughts on this?
You remove the cam cleat from the jib block and mount it onto the inner tube of the wing seat in the approximate location where the crew would be when on the trapeze. This way the cleat is right in front of the crew. Drill and tap the wing tube to a #10-24 or #10-32 thread and then use a machine screw to secure the cam cleat to the wing. Note that the eye strap on the cam is not used. There are, however, several problems with this arrangement. First, you have cam cleats sticking up from the wing seats which are pretty uncomfortable if you accidentally happen to sit on one. Next, you are pretty much locked in to only being able to cleat from one location (unless you add more cleats to the boat). So it's great if your crew always sits in the same spot, but if they move around, the cleat is in the wrong spot. And the last problem is that you always have a high tensioned jib sheet stretched across the width of the boat which is a bit of a nuisance.
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Steve M.
Dogboy wrote: [quote=bobflesh]
And the last problem is that you always have a high tensioned jib sheet stretched across the width of the boat which is a bit of a nuisance.
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Well that's a bit of a deal killer for me. My wife won't get on the wings just yet and my grandson at 5 is all over the place. Don't need to cloths line the boy! Looks like I will try the adjustments first then consider the Harken upgrade.
Thanks to all for the advice. Bob
bobflesh wrote: [quote=Dogboy] I was also thinking some of it just could be technique having been out of sailing for so long.
Bob, this is probably most of the problem. Things will get easier. Assuming the actual jib block/cleat is in good condition then adjust the angle up until it is easy to uncleat and hard to cleat. Then you and your crew practice the "crack the whip" wrist flip that will come naturally with time.
It's easy to way oversheet the jib and pull it so tight that it's hard to release. Take it easy, don't need to use all your strength. I try to tell crew to not take it as a personal challenge to see how hard they can sheet in. π
Congrats, you've got a great boat, anything you have trouble with just start by making sure it is rigged and operating completely as originally intended before you try to invent a new solution.
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Damon Linkous